Children of the Fallen: Bloodlines (BOOK #3)

Chapter 12: Pleasant Reunions

Kellan Hayes

4 Years Ago

I didn't know what to think when I got a message from Morgan requesting to meet after all these years. I hadn't seen her since she was taken but I have heard things. A lot of horrid things that as much as I had had worries about her control and temper, I can't picture her doing any of it. I can't picture her committing these absolute atrocities without even a hint of remorse. I wasn't sure if accepting her request to meet up with her was the dumbest thing I could possibly do but I want to see her.

We agreed to meet in a little restaurant on the edge of my territory, bordering the ocean. It's a public place but still she asked that I not tell anyone we're meeting. I was hesitant not to inform my nobles but I did as she asked. Getting out of my car I see her pacing outside of the restaurant looking nervous. "Morgan?" I call out. She stops and looks to me, looking me up and down and she smiles, a relieved wide smile. She runs over to me and wraps her arms around me. I was tense coming here, worried about what I might see but I tighten my arms around her. Relaxing into her familiar embrace that I can admit I've missed.
"Hey." I say smiling.

She softly laughs then responds, "Hey."

She finally pulls back and now I can get a good look at her. The sight of her dark eyes absent of any light hurts my heart. "Are you okay?"

"I have a lot to tell you."

Making our way through the crowded restaurant we're seated at a table in the corner. In an attempt to reassure me that this is just a meeting she told me to pick somewhere crowded and populated. With people talking and laughing and babies crying, along with plates and utensils clanking together all around no one's listening in. Even the tables around us, far enough that if we talk low no one can hear but they're wrapped up in their own conversations. The woman hands us menus but Morgan physically can't eat and I'm not hungry so we ended up just ordering drinks.  "What happened? The stories I've heard..." I start off the conversation.

She closes her eyes and lowers her head. After taking a deep breath she looks up at me, "They're probably all true."

My eyebrows shoot up as shock hits me in the chest. "But you-,"

"He forced me to be like that, to do those horrible things." She explains.

I bite my lip. "What do you mean force?"

A distance in her eyes forms. "To say that my father is a cruel man is a severe understatement." She clamps her trembling hands together on the table. "Kellan I don't wanna do any of this but if I don't... ."

I reach out taking hold of her shaky hands. "You're okay." I reassure. I take a breath before asking this but I need to know. "Why come to me now? It's been years."

"I had to gain his trust. I couldn't even leave on my own volition until recently. I needed to get away." Her throat bobs. "You have no idea what he's capable of and... I had hoped you still felt something for me. At least enough to talk to me."

"Of course. What can I do?"

"I just... I need someone to know that that's not me. That I'm so fucking stuck I don't know what to do. You're the only one I could come to."

"Chloe?" I suggest hoping it doesn't sound like I'm trying to pawn her off.

"Of course I trust her but trying to go into Kendrick's territory would next to- if not completely impossible." She points out. With Kendrick and Lucien's pointless little conflict heating up now, it definitely would be impossible.

"Come back with me I'll get my mother to help. She can maybe offer you asylum- secretly, of course-,"

"No." She shakes her head frantically. "She's in league with Kendrick meaning Lucien probably has sent people to spy on her. If Lucien gets word of me even existing here he'll kill my nobles, my people, he'll do what he did to Dane to me." Her jaw clenches tightly. "My nobles are like my family Kellan I can't let them die."